On Tuesday, during his press briefing, White House Press Secretary absolutely torched Republican strategist and Fox News contributor Karl Rove over his recent comments about former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Last week, Rove repeatedly insisted during a conference that Clinton suffered a ‘traumatic brain injury’ and that she spent a month in the hospital recovering from the injury. He insinuated that she was suffering from brain damage and that this, combined with her age, made it reasonable to question her ability to be President. On Tuesday morning, after dealing with blowback from his comments, he insisted on Fox News that he wasn’t claiming that she had brain damage, but that it is fair to question her age and health.

Anyway, while holding his briefing, Carney was asked by a member of the press corps if the White House was aware of any health issues that afflicted Clinton while she was Secretary of State. Carney got off the following zinger in response to the question:

“Dr. Rove might have been the last person in America on election night to acknowledge and recognize that the President won reelection, including the state of Ohio, so we’ll leave it at that.”

Boom! Carney should have just followed that up with “Good night!” and dropped the microphone. As pretty much everybody in America knows by now, Rove had an epic meltdown live on Fox News during Election Night coverage in 2012. He didn’t want to believe the network’s own projection that Ohio was going to President Obama. He kept claiming that there was a possibility that Ohio could swing for Mitt Romney and that the statisticians that called it for Obama were premature. Eventually, anchor Megyn Kelly asked Rove, “Is this just math you do as a Republican to make yourself feel better, or is this real?”

Below is video of Rove’s entire temper tantrum, where he forced network executives to send Megyn Kelly back to the decision desk to explain why they called the election for President Obama. Even after the people in charge pointed out the methodology used, Rove still didn’t want to believe them.

Seriously, you’d think with that footage laying around, Rove would have slithered away, never to be heard from again. Besides his embarrassing performance on Election Night, he also went out and wasted tons of money on losing candidates that election cycle. In 2012, his SuperPACs provided almost no actual results, despite the hundreds of millions of dollars donated by extremely wealthy Republicans to get candidates elected. In fact, the Sunlight Foundation calculated that there was only a 1 percent success rate on the $100 million worth of ads that American Crossroads paid for. His other SuperPAC, Crossroads GPS, had a ‘better’ success rate, but it was still an abysmal 14% on the $70 million spent on attack ads.

Nearly two years later, he’s still the butt of jokes and getting trolled by Jay Carney. It might be a good idea for Rove to sit the next couple of plays out, perhaps stop talking for a while.

White House Destroys Karl Rove Over Hillary Comment By Bringing Up Election Night 2012 was written by Justin Baragona for PoliticusUSA.

Justin Baragona is the Managing Editor at Politicus Sports as well as Senior Editor at PoliticusUSA. He was a political writer for 411Mania.com before joining PoliticusUSA. Politically, Justin considers himself a liberal but also a realist and pragmatist. Currently, Justin lives in St. Louis, MO and is married. Besides writing, he also runs his own business after spending a number of years in the corporate world. You can follow Justin on Twitter either with his personal handle (@justinbaragona) or the Sports site's (@PoliticusSports).

You knew the moment he said what he did about Hillary, the 2012 meltdown would be brought up.

Remember, don’t dish it if you can’t take it. :)

Milord

Wed, May 14th, 2014 at 10:37 am

Unfortunately, Rove has succeeded. He has made this a topic of discussion and I can guarantee it will still be one in 2016 because the right wing media will maintain it. He may be the 2nd most despicable person on the planet, but Turdblossom sure knows his job; smearing feces over the lenses of peoples’ perception.

PattyP

Tue, May 13th, 2014 at 4:30 pm

Does Rove really want to go there, considering GOP hero Ronald Reagan was not only the oldest president ever elected but also quite possibly developed Alzheimer’s while he was in office?

Jill

Tue, May 13th, 2014 at 4:36 pm

And consulted Astrologers while in office.

Astorix

Tue, May 13th, 2014 at 5:23 pm

And thought trees were the biggest source of pollution, thought “Star Wars” would actually work, declared ketchup a vegetable and fell asleep during cabinet meetings.

I’d say yes, he did.

Schristen, MD, FACS

Tue, May 13th, 2014 at 9:32 pm

Sorry, but Rove is spot on with these comments. It would appear Mrs. Clinton, who was seven years behind me in high school, has suffered a hemmorhagic stroke affecting the base of the brain, where cranial nerves 3, 4, and 6, which control the eye muscles, have been damaged. A “fall” in which the skull is traumatized on the side or back, would in almost all cases not cuse this type of damage, but a subdural or subarachnoid bleed would be much more likely. Like mr. Rove or not, he has raised a pertinent issue concerning the suitability of Mrs. Clinton for the presidency.
The doctor has spoken

Terp82CS

Wed, May 14th, 2014 at 12:04 am

Isn’t it a violation of medical ethics for a Dr to diagnose a person (s)he has not examined? You have lost all credibility by demonstrating you are so dedicated to being Right Wing that being Right (as in ethically and morally correct) is of no consequence to you at all.

Shiva

Wed, May 14th, 2014 at 12:19 am

He didnt diagnose anyone. You can only diagnose when something happens, not years later

On what basis would you make the diagnosis that “it would appear” that Ms Clinton had that “hemorrhagic stroke”? You have no way of making that judgement unless you accessed her medical records; and if you did and revealed its findings here, given the provisions of HIPAA, it doesn’t say much for you as a medical professional. Making such statements in a public forum like this – grounded in the patient’s medical record or not – might make some believe that your licensing board has grounds for reviewing your license.

And what does the “seven years behind you in high school” have to do with anything?

Sounds like you’re just somebody who likes to make himself look and feel important.

If you’re really an MD, I’d be very wary of trusting you as a patient or as a colleague.

Mike

Wed, May 14th, 2014 at 9:01 am

He’s definitely a MD because he spent the night at Holiday Inn ;)

Rama Swarsa

Wed, May 14th, 2014 at 9:35 am

Huh. Here I thought it was unethical for doctors to diagnose at a distance, especuially someone who isn’t, never has been their patient.
Silly me.

Rama Swarsa

Wed, May 14th, 2014 at 9:39 am

The problem is, people like Rove lack the capacity for embarassment. Otherwise, he’d have crawled under a rock years ago.

Rusty Horn

Tue, May 13th, 2014 at 4:36 pm

I really hate the hyperbolic article titles. “Karl Rove nuts cut off and barbecued” would be great if it was true. True, Carney got off a decent little zinger. My main issue is this. As a Democrat, I truly hate to have to say this, but Rove (whom I loathe) has brought up an absolutely legitimate point. People who have the injury that Hillary Clinton had, and fortunately recovered from, usually have recurrences of it, and sadly often die without warning.

djchefron

Tue, May 13th, 2014 at 4:45 pm

So if you are so worried about Mrs. Clinton then explain to us the mental shortcomings of republicans?

gsb

Wed, May 14th, 2014 at 9:02 am

Apparently I am not alone in loving this one djchefron.. great comment….

Eykis

Tue, May 13th, 2014 at 5:35 pm

Okay, Dr. Rusty,

Explain how my husband who is a PhD first had this injury in 1986 and is fine today?

People have TIAs (mini-strokes) for years and years and have no damage, then drop dead from one big stroke without warning.

People drop dead for all kinds of illnesses all the time……

Spike5

Tue, May 13th, 2014 at 8:06 pm

You are right. My mother had a few TIA’s at one point. She lived another 25 years and died at age 99 with full mental capacity. She just wore out eventually.

Robyn Ryan

Tue, May 13th, 2014 at 6:00 pm

Everyone dies. Sooner or later. That’s why there is a VP. And rules on how the musical chairs job game works.

That was the great nightmare of the shrub years. Cheney – a heart beat away from openly seizing power. President Cheney. Scary…..

Jo C

Wed, May 14th, 2014 at 2:29 am

Well, thank you Dr. Rusty! Holy crap, did you really say what you said?

Now, I’m no doctor, but I do have a medical background and what you said is just patently false. Hillary Clinton didn’t have some hidden medical issue such as impending stroke or cardiovascular disease, etc. that caused her to clot up and put her life in danger. She suffered a fall, an injury. A clot formed at the injury site and doctors dealt with it. That’s it. Once the injury heals, it’s over. There is absolutely no reason to fear that she might have future problems with it, and I’m sure you and everyone realizes she has access to superb medical care, so I’m pretty trusting of that opinion.

LuAnn

Tue, May 13th, 2014 at 4:38 pm

Poor KKKKarl……So afraid of Hillary. And justified to be so. She will kick ass all over the GOP on a soon to be November night in 2016.

Karl will have the big one on Faux News and Rush will eat a bullet the next day.

Oh what a glorious day that will be!

carol

Tue, May 13th, 2014 at 4:52 pm

Hillary would be smarter and sharper than 99 percent of the teathugs even if she did have a brain tumor, especially their puppet flip flop Mitt Robme

RozB

Tue, May 13th, 2014 at 5:15 pm

I think I lost weight laughing so hard at Karl Rove that night. Ahh…good times!

Astorix

Tue, May 13th, 2014 at 6:27 pm

It’s too bad he didn’t get up and check the stats himself because he probably had piss all over himself.

John

Tue, May 13th, 2014 at 5:18 pm

Notice how they act like this is spontaneous. Then Megyn Kelly talks about how they had lost audio “in rehearsals”.

Bonnie Pagan

Tue, May 13th, 2014 at 5:34 pm

And Cheney had how many heart attacks while in office? More importantly, who thinks Rove’s opinions matter any more – on either side of the aisle, who?

Charles

Tue, May 13th, 2014 at 5:42 pm

the are SOOOOOOO scared sh*tless about Hilary–

JustADumbFireman

Tue, May 13th, 2014 at 5:45 pm

How festive!

Jinmichigan

Tue, May 13th, 2014 at 6:01 pm

“Seriously, you’d think with that footage laying around, Rove would have slithered away, never to be heard from again.”

This assumes we are talking about a normal, rational human being.

Jakie Lewis

Tue, May 13th, 2014 at 7:11 pm

So now Karl says she has a brain injury, but when she had the accident, he swore she was faking to elude questioning about Benghazi….So which is it Karl? No wonder the GOP has so many problems, when the likes of Karl, Elmer Fudd, Rove are in charge of their strategy!

labman57

Tue, May 13th, 2014 at 9:09 pm

Rove suffers from a fundamental character flaw exhibited by many conservative pundits and political wannabes — when in doubt, make crap up.

TNBlueDot

Tue, May 13th, 2014 at 9:40 pm

If only he would slither back under that rock from whence he came!

Doris~

Tue, May 13th, 2014 at 9:49 pm

Rove is a lying imbecile trolling around makin up bull$#!t.

Tedderman

Tue, May 13th, 2014 at 10:09 pm

Rove continues to hope the numbers from Ohio will eventually turn in Romney’s favor. That said he’s going to keep using the Roger Ailes, Lee Atwater playbook they’ve used since the Nixon era.

Roger

Wed, May 14th, 2014 at 10:20 am

The parade of clowns never ends. I honestly believe Rove is in serious need of mental help. People never realized why Rove had the melt down in 2012 to begin with or have forgotten he was caught with his hand in the cookie jar trying to rig the Ohio election so Obama couldn’t possibly win the state. Do people honestly believe his reaction was that far off the charts because he was simply upset that Romney lost? That vile man is a snake that will stoop to any nasty lengths when it comes to politics.

StavoV

Wed, May 14th, 2014 at 10:42 am

I suspect, that the powers to be, way back when, had already decided that gw bush, was going to be the next installed figure head of the US. Karl Rove was just in the pack, to lend authenticity to the rouge. Because when you look back, everything after the election, that the turd knocker did, has been a disaster. You can colour that guy anyway you want, but he is somewhat of a joke.

When you look at his educational background or lack of, and his grades, you pretty well can tell how and where a person will end up in life. Not always, but more, than not. Rove, doesn’t belong where his station in life right now is, mentally he is not qualified for it. Just like gw bush didn’t truly belong as president of the US, Rove doesn’t deserve the lime light he is getting.

I don’t know why gw bush and his mater, dick cheney were put into play, but they were. Something is up and it is serious business. I tend to truly believe Hillary Clinton, when she says that the rightwing has an agenda.